Movie review: 'Bad Words' is a w-i-n-n-e-r

Friday

Mar 21, 2014 at 12:01 AM

In his feature directorial debut, Jason Bateman plays a man who finds a loophole in the rules of the national spelling bee and gleefully exploits it.

If you can’t tolerate an adult flipping the bird to a 10-year- old, you should probably skip the R-rated spelling bee comedy “Bad Words.” If, however, you enjoy gloriously inappropriate black humor and a bevy of dirty words, then Jason Bateman’s politically incorrect movie will make you groan and cringe – all in good fun. With Bateman (“Horrible Bosses”) doing double duty as star and first-time director, would you expect anything less? Playing against type, he sheds his usual nice-guy persona to play Guy Trilby, a salty-tongued 40-year-old competing against middle-schoolers in the prestigious Golden Quill spelling bee, which he gains entry via a loophole. Guy’s motivation for participating in the contest is the root of first-time writer Andrew Dodge’s screenplay. The answer will be later revealed. In the meantime, there’s a three-day competition in Washington, D.C., to get through and lots of vitriol to sling.

Guy takes a no-holds-barred approach toward squashing his diminutive opponents, saying and doing things one might wish to do or say to a child, but would never do. And no amount of abuse from overbearing parents and spelling bee organizers will deter Guy. He sabotages one kid after the next, unapologetically inflicting emotional damage. And loving every minute. “Would you give these panties back to your mother?” or “I saw your adulthood,” after squirting ketchup on one shy young lass’s chair. Gross? Yes. Tasteless? Sure. But in Bateman’s capable hands with his deadpan and earnest delivery, it’s hilarious.

Functioning as a bad guy is a welcome change for Bateman, but if he were all awful, the character wouldn’t work. And so, Bateman, gets to sprinkle in some sentiment to win us over. This comes mostly in the relationship he strikes up with the precocious Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand, who played Nazir’s ill-fated son, Issa, on “Homeland”). Guy affectionately calls his new Indian-American friend “Slumdog” and “swami,” and their scenes together (including a night-long sojourn involving a lobster, a bar, a hooker, cussing) are some of the movie’s best.

In supporting roles, Kathryn Hahn (“We’re the Millers”) plays a journalist assigned to do a story on Guy. Details on his life emerge as she digs deeper. A bad-wigged Allison Janney (“Masters of Sex”) is spot-on as the no-nonsense director of the bee, rigging the list so Guy has to spell words such as “floccinaucinihilipilification.” Ben Falcone (“Bridesmaids”) plays a pompous TV commentator and Phillip Baker Hall (“Clear History”) is the pretentious founder of the bee. The characters are pretty cookie-cutter and the plot and it’s redemptive ending are well-worn territory, but Bateman and his cast make the movie better than it should. It’s a w-i-n-n-e-r.